Re:Gender works to end gender inequity by exposing root causes and advancing research-informed action. Working with multiple sectors and disciplines, we are shaping a world that demands fairness across difference.

Human Rights & Security

Globalization—as a political, economic and cultural trend—continues to have a mixed impact on women. Although it is strengthening promotion of gender equality around the world, it is also in many cases widening the gulf between rich and poor, accelerating environmental degradation and increasing the workloads of women and girls. The expanding global marketplace is increasing women’s employment opportunities but also producing jobs that may be temporary, unsafe or exploitive. Furthermore, economic reform programs imposed on developing countries by international financial institutions have often eroded critical services, such as public health and education programs, thereby increasing the caregiving burdens of women and girls. While globalization has opened up new avenues for some women, it has also led to increased hardship for others.

The Tahirih Justice Center released the results of our groundbreaking national survey on the state of forced marriage in the United States. The survey is the first of its kind conducted in the United States and designed to understand the scope and nature of forced marriage among immigrant communities. Newsweek magazine has reported on the survey results in this week’s edition (click here to read the full article) and the full survey report can be read on Tahirih’s website (click here to read full report).

This paper explores the consequences of the recent dramatic fertility decline in China by examining the effects of sibship size and composition on inequality in socioeconomic achievement between men and women. Drawing primarily from the China General Social Survey, the authors' findings suggest that women from families with more siblings are more disadvantaged both in terms of their schooling and their job status.

Xiaogang Wu, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Hua Ye, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology2011

On Tuesday, thousands of women—the Associated Press’s estimate put the number at ten thousand—went to Tahrir Square to protest. (According to Reuters, the women were “surrounded by men pledging to protect them.”) The turnout was, no doubt, driven by the violence of the recent clashes, which began December 16th and have left an estimated eight hundred and fifty people injured and fourteen dead. But it can also be explained, in part, by a single video from December 17th.

Women in Sri Lanka’s predominantly Tamil-speaking north and east are facing a desperate lack of security in the aftermath of the long civil war. Today many still live in fear of violence from various sources. Those who fall victim to it have little means of redress. Women’s economic security is precarious, and their physical mobility is limited. The heavily militarised and centralised control of the north and east – with almost exclusively male, Sinhalese security forces – raises particular problems for women there in terms of their safety, sense of security and ability to access assistance. They have little control over their lives and no reliable institutions to turn to. The government has mostly dismissed women’s security issues and exacerbated fears, especially in the north and east. The international community has failed to appreciate and respond effectively to the challenges faced by women and girls in the former war zone.

Welcome to the front lines of the fight to stop child marriage in a country where nearly half of all girls wed before age 18. The weapon of choice: cash.

Lado is part of an innovative program called Apni Beti Apni Dhan, or Our Daughters, Our Wealth. Launched in 1994 by the northern state of Haryana, the program gives poor families 500 rupees ($11, the equivalent of less than half a week’s pay) when a daughter is born, and also deposits money into a savings account. If the girl turns 18 unwed, she is eligible to redeem the bond, worth 25,000 rupees (roughly $500, or one third of an average yearly income). The earliest of the program’s approximately 150,000 enrollees turn 18 next year, offering a rare chance to study whether the program offers a solution other states—and countries—can use.

Whether it can be tied directly to Apni Beti or not, child marriage is on the decline in Haryana, which saw an 18 percent drop in the practice between 1992 and 2006. Haryana community workers say that thus far none of the program’s beneficiaries have been married off by their parents, who know of the program’s promised payout. The girls must sign for the bond, but it is likely their parents will have control of it because of social norms, and most of the girls say they want their parents to use it for their education anyway.

The national Sigma Phi Epsilon announced, after an internal investigation and lengthy discussions with the University of Vermont, that the University of Vermont chapter, whose members are accused of circulating a survey that asked who they would like to rape, has been closed indefinitely.

Report gathered by this paper says over 2,000 cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) have occurred nation-wide during the period January to October 2011. The report, which was compiled by the Ministry of Gender and Development, is released at a time the nation is joining other countries around the world to celebrate 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, which runs from November 25, 2011 through December 10, 2011. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights.

China is witnessing an increasing number of foreign women who have been cheated, kidnapped and smuggled into the country, a senior official has said.

Most of these women are from rural areas in Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos. They eagerly want to find jobs in China or marry rich Chinese men to escape poverty, Chen Shiqu, director of the Ministry of Public Security's anti-human trafficking office, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

"The number of foreign women trafficked to China is definitely rising," Chen said, without disclosing how many women have been rescued by Chinese police nationally.

However, in North China's Hebei province, police have rescued 206 trafficked foreign brides since April 2009, mainly from Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, according to figures from the provincial public security department.

Chen said the lack of natural barriers, such as rivers or mountains in the border areas between China and Southeast Asian countries, in addition to poverty in some regions in these countries, contribute to the rising trafficking of foreign women.

The victims are often sold in rural Chinese areas as brides of local villagers, or forced to provide sex services in underground prostitution dens in China's coastal or border areas such as Yunnan and Guangdong provinces, or Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, he said....

Critiques the methodology used by Professor Kamal al-Subhi, the American-educated retired professor in Saudi Arabia who took it upon himself to prepare a scientific study on the effects of women driving on society.

Women driving has been a controversial issue in Saudi Arabia since 1990when 47 women got into 14 cars and drove on to a main street in Riyadh. They were stopped, suspended from work for two years and condemned for years in religious sermons and social circles. The last public assault was when Sheikh Mohammed Al Arefe in 2003 objected to the fact that these women were allowed to go back to teaching because he was worried that they would encourage their students to follow in their footsteps.

It took more than 15 years for another group of women to gather the courage to start a public movement against the ban on female driving. Since 2006, every few months there would be a study, petition, video or campaign but to no avail. This is no surprise, because there are just as many studies, videos, petitions and campaigns calling on the government to maintain the ban.

Professor Kamal al-Subhi has written the most recent of these studies. Subhi is an American-educated retired professor who took it upon himself to prepare a scientific study on the effects of women driving on society. The study is based on unstructured direct interviews methodology, in which he visited two unnamed Arabian Gulf countries and a third unnamed North African country to ask people about the effects of women driving.

By Shyama Venkateswar, Ph.D.*The National Council for Research on Women participates in the US Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security. We are currently disseminating a statement and recommendations to encourage more robust US policies and programs to ensure that women's voices and organizations are fully represented throughout diplomacy, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction efforts. In publishing this statement, the Working Group aims to transform declaratory support into concrete action and engender effective outcomes that bring peace, security, and dignity to the lives of women, men, and chiildren in conflict and crisis settings. Please help us spread the word about this important initiative. Click here to read the statement.